Did Glenn McGrath have the greatest cricketing career?

[ManFan]

Glenn McGrath. The man ran up, bowed the same line and length and eventually bored the batsmen into playing. Here are his extraordinary achievements in cricket:
1) Most wickets by a fast bowler in Tests
2) Helped his team to Three World Cups and Four out of Four Finals
3) Lost only Two Test series: India in 2001 and England in 2005
4) 300+ wickets in ODI
5) Part of two Australian teams to win a record 16 consecutive Tests
6) Finished his ODI career with a wicket of his last ball
7) Finished his last World Cup as leading wicket-taker with 27 scalps
8) Finished his Test career with a wicket of his last ball
9) Averaged Less than 21 in Tests and 22 in ODI
10) Took Brian Lara's wicket a record 18 Times, Atherton's wicket a record 19 Times, Sachin's wicket 13 Times.
So my question is, did Glenn McGrath have the Perfect Cricketing Career?

 

[vandokkum]

Greatest achievements surely, he was the most important part of the team that won 3 world cups, that record will never be matched.

 

[SL_Fan]

All formats combined definitely for mine. Did well against everyone, everywhere, against all the top batsmen and in both formats. Also turned up when it really mattered. Can't get any better than that.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

In my opinion, he's the greatest cricketer ever. Period. Not rated that highly on PP I think.

 

[asifp]

The 2005 series loss only happened cause he sprained his ankle and missed a couple of tests.

 

[Pete Rose]

Yes. One of the rare cricketers who's stats stand up to scrutiny no matter how many ways you slice and dice it. There might have been more exciting bowlers but he surely is a contender for greatest fast bowler of all time.

 

[Cuts_and_cuts_hard]

Definitely up there as one of the most flawless careers ever, even though some of it is down to him playing for a juggernaut team.

His greatest quality was targeting the best batsman of the opposing team (often in pre match press conferences) and then backing it up on the field. If I remember correctly, he predicted he would get Jimmy Adams and Brian Lara as his 299th and 300 th test wickets. And it actually happened.

 

[Mamoon]

Undoubtedly the most complete career in history.

 

[ManFan]

Yeah forgot to add he predicted Lara would be his 300th wicket and got a hat-trick too! He also predicted Trescothick would be his 500th.

 

[khalil1986]

One of the very best without a doubt.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Most successful career in history of cricket, he achieved everything a bowler could

 

[notAgainPlease]

He always had champion bowler Warne to play with and champion batsmen to score huge and put opponents under pressure. Great bowler but not magical.

 

[notAgainPlease]

2003 and 2007 finals were won by an Aussie batsmen. 1999 worldcup final was won by Warne.

 

[Hitman]

Certainly a very strong contender for the honor. The man's career and his performances in both the formats have absolutely no flaws.

 

[Kianig89]

Great career but had the luxury of several World class team mates which meant he always bowled with zero pressure and full freedom mostly had over par or par scores to defend and bowled with the likes of Lee Gillespie Tait Bichel Kasprowicz Fleming Clark Bracken etc all of them are over 7.5/10 bowlers not to mention Warned and Macgill

Woyld loved to see how he fared with teamates like Praveen Kumar Rao Iftikhar Harkesh Kanitkar Sajid Mahmood &Toni Suji

 

[badsha001]

I don't agree with it, Australia's fielding made him a successful bowler. He was the trundler.

 

[Minku]

3) Lost only Two Test series: India in 2001 and England in 2005

Don't think that is true. I know Pakistan won in 94' and Mcgrath was in the team. I think Windies, and SA also won series against AUS in the 90s as well. Not 100% on that though.

 

[TestMatch]

Don't think that is true. I know Pakistan won in 94' and Mcgrath was in the team.

Yeah, I think Mcgrath only played in one of those tests, though (which Pakistan won).

 

[hk031992]

Did he have one of the greatest careers ever? Sure, but that doesn't make him the greatest player ever. He was a great player in a team filled with great players.

Still, any cricketer would love to be part of three world cup winning teams and end both their test and odi careers on a high.

 

[Convict]

Don't think that is true. I know Pakistan won in 94' and Mcgrath was in the team. I think Windies, and SA also won series against AUS in the 90s as well. Not 100% on that though.

South Africa didn't beat Australia until 2008/09.

 

[Khwaja]

No

 

[Fahdi]

Yes Indeed. Can't think of a single thing which is lacking in his career. He performed everywhere, against everyone, on every stage and he did it for a long time.

 

[bujhee kom]

He is up there with Viv as the most successful.

 

[Kianig89]

So after 106 innings
Cummins vs. McGrath
Wkts 257 251
Avg. 22.13 23.3
5W 12 15
10W 2 1
---------------
So no where does Cummins rank

 

[Swashbuckler]

McGrath did very well in all conditions, was also instrumental in winning his side a series in India.

Cummins must prove himself in alien conditions to be in this sort of discussion, he hasn't won an Ashes in England or a series in SA, NZ, SL, BD, WI. His career is more similar to Lilllee's at the moment who did well only in Aus and Eng.

For me McGrath is the greatest cricketer of all time, past eras included.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

McGrath left very little that couldn't be achieved. His record in WCs is phenomenal. Without taking a single 4 fer or more, he was easily the highest wicket taker of 2007 WC edition.
He had an unmatched aura about him, probably the only one who wasn't express fast.

 

[Swashbuckler]

McGrath's last ball in ODIs was a wicket. His last ball in tests was a wicket. His last T20I ball was a wicket. Destiny's favorite child, born champion.

Btw his last ODI was the 2007 WC final. His last test ended with thumping England 5-0 in the Ashes, member of the number one test team in the world which would go on a 16 match winning streak, for the second time in 7 years. Poetic.

 

[sweep_shot]

Not sure about the greatest. But, definitely one of the greatest.

He was a key player in Australia's ATG team.

 

[FearlessRoar]

3-time ODI World Cup champion (1999, 2003, 2007)
Champions Trophy winner (2006)

Happy 55th birthday to the Australian great, Glenn McGrath